Filipino playwright Floy Quintos passed away on Saturday, his family announced Saturday.
In a Facebook post, his niece Celina Quintos said that Floy had a heart attack on Saturday morning and passed away in the hospital emergency room. He had turned 63 this month.
“It is with the heaviest of hearts that I, on behalf of my family, announce that Floy Quintos, esteemed playwright and director, but more importantly beloved brother, son, uncle, cousin, nephew, and friend, has returned to the arms of the Lord,” she said.
“Floy Quintos was a beacon of Philippine culture and the arts, but also shone so much firelight for the people closest to him,” Celina said.
“The country, the world, and our home are much darker with this light snuffed out too soon,” she also said.
Florencio Louis Antonio de la Cruz Quintos, Floy to friends and associates, was a playwright, theater director and actor, and screenwriter. He was born in Manila on 17 April 1961.
He attended grade school at the Ateneo de Manila and high school at the University of the Philippines Integrated School, and then obtained his bachelor’s degree in journalism at UP Diliman, graduating in 1985. Quintos initially worked as a journalist and editor. He was a freelance contributor to various national newspapers like The Philippine Star. He worked for the publicity section of the Metropolitan Theater, 1983-1985, and was managing editor of Metro Magazine, 1988-1995.
In theater, Quintos started as an actor in various Dulaang UP productions. He performed roles in Anton Juan Jr.’s Isang Makabagong Pantomima sa Tawi-Tawi, Cotabato at Iba Pang Pulo and Rene O. Villanueva’s Tribu, both in 1979. He was later cast in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1983), and Euripides’s The Bacchae/Ang Mga Bacchae (1992).
He started directing productions by different theater companies in the late 2000s.
In a post on her Facebook account, Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility Executive Director Melinda Quintos-De Jesus said Floy “was good and gifted person, a caring and kind nephew who did so much for our families.”
She added: The eldest of my nephews and nieces, we shared many joys as [we] were joined in our politics.”
Quintos, a playwright and director who has won in the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature nine times, was honored by the UP College of Mass Communication in its annual Glory Awards in 2019.
“For the past three decades, he has written memorable, intelligent plays in English and Filipino that are strong socio-political commentaries spiked with his prickling wit,” UP CMC said then.
His last play, “Grace”, is slated to be staged in May.
The wake will be at Arlington Memorial Chapels in Quezon City. The family is still making arrangements and will post updates, Celina said Saturday.
“We ask for your prayers, love, and support as we navigate this tremendous loss,” she added.
Source: https://news.abs-cbn.com/lifestyle/2024/5/3/mayon-hot-air-1136
